Organizational justice evaluations, job control, and occupational strain.

To explore how organizational justice evaluations affect the occupational stress process, the authors formulated and tested the following 2 hypotheses: (a) The effect of job control on strain is mediated by justice evaluations, and (b) justice evaluations moderate the effect of job control on occupational strain. The results of structural equation modeling, based on data collected from 688 employees, suggest that job control affects strain through justice evaluations. Thus, the results of this study supported the lst hypothesis and provided evidence that perceptions of the organization are potential factors contributing to employee health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects on teachers' self-efficacy and job satisfaction: Teacher gender, years of experience, and job stress.

The authors of this study sought to examine the relationships among teachers' years of experience, teacher characteristics (gender and teaching level), three domains of self-efficacy (instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement), two types of job stress (workload and classroom stress), and job satisfaction with a sample of 1,430 practicing teachers using factor analysis, item response modeling, systems of equations, and a structural equation model. Teachers' years of experience showed nonlinear relationships with all three self-efficacy factors, increasing from early career to mid-career and then falling afterwards. Female teachers had greater workload stress, greater classroom stress from student behaviors, and lower classroom management self-efficacy. Teachers with greater workload stress had greater classroom management self-efficacy, whereas teachers with greater classroom stress had lower self-efficacy and lower job satisfaction. Those teaching young children (in elementary grades and kindergarten) had higher levels of self-efficacy for classroom management and student engagement. Lastly, teachers with greater classroom management self-efficacy or greater instructional strategies self-efficacy had greater job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of disability, gender, and job level on ratings of job applicants.

Objective: To examine the effects of applicant disability, gender, and job level on ratings of job applicants. Design and Participants: Full-time workers (n?=?88) and undergraduates (n?=?98) provided ratings of hypothetical job applicants who differed on the 3 factors of interest. Measures: Job applicants were evaluated on the basis of competence, overall recommendation, potency, activity, and starting salary. Results: Applicants with disabilities were generally rated significantly higher in activity and potency than the applicant without a disability. Additional analyses revealed a significant Gender X Job Level interaction for applicants with a disability. Conclusions: Consistent with D. T. Wegener and R. E. Petty's (1997) flexible correction model, the results of this study suggest that evaluations of job applicants with disabilities may depend on the amount of cognitive resources raters have available at the time the evaluations are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interactive effect of chronic exposure to noise and job complexity on changes in blood pressure and job satisfaction: A longitudinal study of industrial employees.

The hypothesis of this study was that noise exposure level and job complexity interact to affect changes in blood pressure (BP) levels and job satisfaction over 2–4 yrs of follow-up. Results showed that among workers exposed to high noise, those with complex jobs showed increases in BP that were more than double shown by those with simple jobs. Under low noise exposure, there was a small increase in BP for workers with complex jobs but about a 3-fold increase in workers with simple jobs. The prevalence of elevated BP showed a similar trend. Job satisfaction increased among workers with complex jobs but was much less in those exposed to high noise. It was concluded that exposure to occupational noise has a greater negative impact on changes in BP and job satisfaction over time among those performing complex jobs. In contrast, job complexity had a clear beneficial effect for workers exposed to low noise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence that gendered wording in job advertisements exists and sustains gender inequality.

Social dominance theory (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999) contends that institutional-level mechanisms exist that reinforce and perpetuate existing group-based inequalities, but very few such mechanisms have been empirically demonstrated. We propose that gendered wording (i.e., masculine- and feminine-themed words, such as those associated with gender stereotypes) may be a heretofore unacknowledged, institutional-level mechanism of inequality maintenance. Employing both archival and experimental analyses, the present research demonstrates that gendered wording commonly employed in job recruitment materials can maintain gender inequality in traditionally male-dominated occupations. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated the existence of subtle but systematic wording differences within a randomly sampled set of job advertisements. Results indicated that job advertisements for male-dominated areas employed greater masculine wording (i.e., words associated with male stereotypes, such as leader, competitive, dominant) than advertisements within female-dominated areas. No difference in the presence of feminine wording (i.e., words associated with female stereotypes, such as support, understand, interpersonal) emerged across male- and female-dominated areas. Next, the consequences of highly masculine wording were tested across 3 experimental studies. When job advertisements were constructed to include more masculine than feminine wording, participants perceived more men within these occupations (Study 3), and importantly, women found these jobs less appealing (Studies 4 and 5). Results confirmed that perceptions of belongingness (but not perceived skills) mediated the effect of gendered wording on job appeal (Study 5). The function of gendered wording in maintaining traditional gender divisions, implications for gender parity, and theoretical models of inequality are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interaction of job autonomy and conflict with supervisor in China and the United States: A qualitative and quantitative comparison.

We examined employees' conflict with their supervisors in cross-cultural work settings. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 332 and 302 university employees in the United States and China, respectively. First, the qualitative data revealed that 54% versus 42% of supervisor conflicts were attributable to low job control in the United States and China, respectively. The quantitative data indicated that job autonomy was negatively related to supervisor conflict in the United States but not in China. Second, both quantitative and qualitative data showed that Chinese employees had more supervisor conflict than their U.S. counterparts. Third, both type of data suggested that supervisor conflict was more strongly related to job strains in China than in the United States. Finally, job autonomy played different roles in these two countries. It buffered supervisor conflict—job strain relations in the United States but exaggerated such relations in China. Therefore, our study provided a possible explanation to the inconsistent findings regarding the buffering effect of job autonomy on job stressors. Employees' cultural background may complicate the process. The qualitative data largely supported the quantitative findings and provided detailed information on employees' job stress experience in the cross-cultural context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theories of job stress and the role of traditional values: A longitudinal study in China.

This study examines how traditionality influences the relationships between job stressors and health. A sample of 496 Chinese employees provided longitudinal questionnaire data, and their health was assessed by collecting blood samples and monitoring blood pressure. The results indicated that the positive relationship between job control and health was stronger among the less traditional workers, whereas the positive relationship between distributive justice and health was stronger among the more traditional workers. Furthermore, traditionality moderated the interactive effects of job demands and perceived control/justice on health. Perceiving higher control mitigated the effects of job demands on upper respiratory infections among low traditionalists, but it exacerbated the effects among the high traditionalists. Perceptions of higher justice mitigated the effects of job demands on emotional exhaustion and immunoglobulin A for high traditionalists but not for low traditionalists. These results suggest that, in the relationship between job demands and psychological and physiological health, concern for equity is an important moderator for individuals with more traditional values, whereas perceived personal control is salutary for health primarily among people with less traditional values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Properties of organization structure in relation to job attitudes and job behavior.

This article reviews the results of empirical field studies that have investigated the relationships between properties of organization structure and job attitudes and job behavior in business and industrial organizations. The following 7 structural properties were examined: organizational levels, line/staff hierarchies, span of control, subunit size, total-organization size, tall/flat shape, and centralized/decentralized shape. At least 5 of these 7 variables (with the possible exceptions being span of control and centralized/decentralized shape) were found to be significantly related to one or more attitude or behavioral variables. Implications of these findings for organization theory and future research are discussed. (3 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The enigma of social support and occupational stress: Source congruence and gender role effects.

Research on the potential ameliorating effects of social support on occupational stress produces weak, inconsistent, and even contradictory results. This study of 117 employees, mostly from a southern U.S. hospital supply company, examined potential moderators that were theorized might reduce the confusion: source congruence (congruence between sources of the stressor and of social support) and gender role. Congruence between the sources of stressors and of social support appeared to make little difference in determining the moderating or buffering effect of social support on the relationship between stressors and strain. Gender role, however, may moderate the relationship between social support and individual strains such that more feminine people react more strongly and positively to social support than more masculine people do. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of emotional exhaustion to work attitudes, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors.

The authors investigated the negative consequences of emotional exhaustion for individual employees and their employers. On the basis of social exchange theory, the authors proposed that emotional exhaustion would predict job performance, 2 classes of organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover intentions. In addition, the authors posited that the relationship between emotional exhaustion and effective work behaviors would be mediated by organizational commitment. With only a few exceptions, the results of 2 field studies supported the authors' expectations. In addition, emotional exhaustion exerted an independent effect on these criterion variables beyond the impact of age, gender, and ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Appreciation of university education in relation to employment expectations.

A survey of students enrolled in Introductory, Fourth-Year, Graduate and Extension studies in psychology indicated that psychology was studied because it is intellectually challenging and is concerned with people. Students, particularly females, perceive difficulties in finding employment following graduation. The university is valued for its contribution to intellectual, personal and social development. Attitudinal differences between males and females, among the four subject groups, and among students from Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of child gender role and maternal feedback to child stress on the emergence of the gender difference in depressive rumination in adolescence.

Extensive research has linked a greater female tendency to ruminate about depressed feelings or mood to the gender difference in depression. However, the developmental origins of the gender difference in depressive rumination are not well understood. We hypothesized that girls and women may be more likely to ruminate because rumination represents a gender-stereotyped coping style that is associated with a more feminine gender role identity, maternal encouragement of emotion expression, and passive coping responses to stress. This study examined whether child self-reported gender role identity and observed maternal responses to child stress mediated the emergent gender difference in depressive rumination in adolescence. Maternal gender role attitudes were further hypothesized to moderate the relationship between child sex and mediating variables. Rumination and gender role identity were assessed in 316 youths and their mothers in a longitudinal study from age 11 to age 15; in addition, 153 mother–child dyads participated in an observational task at age 11 from which maternal responses to a child stressor were coded. Results indicated that greater feminine gender role identity among children and encouragement of emotion expression by mothers at age 11 significantly mediated the association between child sex and the development of depressive rumination at age 15, even after controlling for rumination at age 11. Maternal gender role attitudes significantly moderated the relationship between child sex and maternal encouragement of emotion expression, such that mothers who endorsed more traditional gender role attitudes themselves were particularly likely to encourage emotion expression in their daughters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Change in job strain and progression of atherosclerosis: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 16(2) of Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (see record 2011-06502-001). The order of authorship was listed incorrectly. The correct order is listed in the correction.] Evidence of the association between job strain, that is, a combination of high psychological demands and low job control, and markers of atherosclerosis is mixed, but few studies with repeat measures are available. The purpose of this study was to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between job strain and atherosclerosis. The participants were 335 men and 374 women from the prospective Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study (mean age 38.5 years). Two sequential measurements of job strain and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) were analyzed. No cross-sectional or longitudinal association between job strain and IMT was observed in women. In men, a cross-sectional association was found in 2001, but not in 2007. No dose-response effect was visible, nor a simple association between progression of job strain and progression of IMT. Instead, a more complex pattern of correlation was found in men with large decreases in job strain being associated with slower progression of IMT and combined decreases in job control and demands (a change toward passive jobs) being associated with greater IMT progression. These data suggest that temporal changes in job demands and control are associated with IMT in men via multiple mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The web of coping resources and pathways to reemployment following a job loss.

Structural equation modeling analyses of data from 2 longitudinal community studies of recently laid-off workers examined the interrelationships and pathways from personal coping resources to job-search intensity and the extent and quality of reemployment at 2 follow-ups (at 6 months and at 12 or 24 months). In both studies, the proposed models for predicting reemployment and reemployment quality provided a good fit to the data with the same pattern of results, which demonstrated that job-search motivation increased reemployment at all follow-ups but did not affect reemployment quality. At both the 6- and 12-month follow-ups, level of depressive symptoms decreased the extent and quality of reemployment. The results also highlighted the dual role of financial strain, which on the one hand facilitates reemployment by increasing job-search motivation and job-search intensity and on the other hand inhibits it by increasing depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work-family conflict and psychosocial work environment stressors as predictors of job stress in a cross-cultural study.

The purpose of this cross-cultural study was to investigate the relationship between work-family conflict (WFC), family-work conflict (FWC), job demands, job control, social support, flexibility in working hours, and job stress. The sample consisted of 27 doctors and 328 nurses from Norway, as well as 111 doctors and 136 nurses from India. The results indicate that predictors of job stress in India are different from Norway and different from doctors to nurses. For Norwegian doctors, none of the study variables were predictors of job stress. For Norwegian nurses WFC, high job demands, and low flexibility in working hours were predictors of job stress. For Indian doctors low job control and for Indian nurses high FWC and low social support were predictors of job stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of the General Aptitude Test Battery to determine aptitude changes with age and to predict job performance.

"It was found that Aptitudes G, V, N, and S were related to age in a curvilinear manner." 400 Ss were divided into 4 age groups. Aptitudes and supervisory ratings were plotted against age. "… only Aptitude K contributed significantly to predicting the variance in the criterion." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of sex and gender socialization in stress reactivity.

Individual health is determined by a myriad of factors. Interestingly, simply being male or female is one such factor that carries profound implications for one's well-being. Intriguing differences between men and women have been observed with respect to vulnerability to and prevalence of particular illnesses. The activity of the major stress hormone axis in humans, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, is directly and indirectly associated with the onset and propagation of these conditions. Previous studies have shown differences between men and women at the level of stress hormone regulation, suggesting that the metabolic effects of stress may be related to susceptibility for stress-related disease. While the majority of studies have suggested that biological differences are responsible, few have also considered the role of gender socialization. In this selective review, the authors summarize evidence on sex differences and highlight some recent results from endocrinological, developmental, and neuroimaging studies that suggest an important role of gender socialization on the metabolic effects of stress. Finally, a model is proposed that integrates these specific findings, highlighting gender socialization and stress responsivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of person-environment fit in the job satisfaction and tenure intentions of African American employees.

In light of speculation that the determinants of job satisfaction and tenure for African American employees may not be adequately captured by the theory of work adjustment (TWA; Dawis & Lofquist, 1984), in the present study the authors tested assumptions of the TWA with an African American sample by (a) examining the strength of fit-satisfaction and fit-turnover intentions relationships, (b) testing the ability of racial climate to moderate the fit-satisfaction and fit-turnover intentions relationships, (c) analyzing qualitative data related to the determinants of job satisfaction, and (d) investigating potential differences in the fit-satisfaction and fit-turnover intentions relationships for African Americans and European Americans. Self-report data were collected from African American employees (n = 204) that assessed fit perceptions, departmental racial climate, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. African American employees' reports of fit perceptions explained variance in job satisfaction (43.20%) and turnover intentions (20.20%); however, racial climate did not emerge as a moderator. Qualitative results supported these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job stress in the Australian and international health and community services sector: A review of the literature.

We reviewed 25 international and 10 Australian studies published between 1999 and 2004 for evidence of individual and organizational impacts of stress in the health and community services (HCS) sector. Several HCS occupations showed high levels of distress compared to Australian population data. Results were consistent with the Job Demands-Resources model: High demands (e.g., workload, emotional) combined with low resources (e.g., control, rewards, support) were associated with adverse health (e.g., psychological, physical) and organizational impacts (e.g., reduced job satisfaction, sickness absence). Australian-specific issues included rural and remote work and the complex role of Aboriginal Health Workers. Strong associations between modifiable work factors and adverse outcomes provide a rationale for primary preventive policy development by occupational health and safety regulators and workers' compensation authorities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Combining dispositions and evaluations of vocation and job to account for counterproductive work behavior in adolescent job apprentices.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 12(3) of Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (see record 2007-10372-007). The following errors were committed: (1) In Table 1, item 7 in the variable column is mislabeled. (2) On page 171, in the paragraph before the Discussion section, the sentence beginning on line 14 reads incorrectly. (3) The caption for Figure 1 reads incorrectly. (4) On page 166, left column, 4th line from the bottom, the sentence reads incorrectly. The corrected information is presented in the erratum.] In the present research, we investigated the joint impact of selected antecedents of counterproductive work behavior (CWB). A sample of German apprentices reported on their CWB and completed measures of situational evaluations (vocational preference, level and constructiveness of job satisfaction) believed to trigger CWB and of dispositional motivators (measured by integrity test subscales) and controls (self-control and another subset of integrity scales) of CWB. All predictors investigated showed the expected bivariate relationships with CWB. Multivariate analyses revealed that the triggering effect of an unfavorable vocational choice on CWB was fully mediated by job satisfaction. When predictors were aggregated, a composite of dispositional control variables had the largest effect on CWB and moderated the effects of motivational dispositions and situational evaluations. These results extend the knowledge on antecedents of CWB by investigating previously overlooked variables and samples and partially replicate recent findings on the joint impact of dispositions and work-related evaluations on CWB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)